As Winsonapm mentioned, it's the attitude you adopt when you read this thread.
I don't think any of the pros would insinuate anything because there are many silent readers in this forum, and some of them could be our clients even.
This pasar malam approach to pricing, is not just an indication of how much one really value their own work, but it will inhibit growth because there's no reward and motivation to create something out of the run-off-the-mill kind of photos. It's the same with this whole campaign about quality service, take camera gear for example, you'll find that the same lens will be sold at a fixed price in all the stores, no bargaining. So as a consumer, would you buy from the SLS ah beng if you know the store next to his shop sells the same thing at the same price?
I think most of us who have established our own clientele needn't worry about freelance or new comers undercutting us, because beyond a certain level, clients are looking for specific style and trust me, they're not going to swat the small stuffs like whether you are giving them 60 images only as compared to another chap who is going to give like 500 images for half the price. And yes, how you price will determine the market that you want to be in, and for those who are thinking of going full time pro, if you're planning to just stay within the $600-800 price point, then you're competiting with a lot of part-timers who are willing to go even lower because they don't really have all these operating costs and all to worry about.
Like most folks, I started off with $700-800 and could easily get 4 assignments a month on top of my day job. Moving the price point up is not just about being paid for giving the extra (let's face it, all of us worked for our performance bonus right?), but it's about finding that clientele who appreciate your work. Pricing my side at the mid range (between $1500 to $1800) was the worst decision I've made in my career - not only did I see my take up rate drop drastically, but managing client's expectations and believe it or not, the mid range group are the most difficult to deal with.
So what's the mid-range group like? I've had clients who will try everything and anything to squeeze you dry because they think they're paying a great deal. For example, they find 400+ properly edited images "extremely low" when compared to their friends that gotten 1500 images from their photographer; and oh albums, my policy now is clients don't get to choose what photos they want in their album because the best person to select and tell the story is still the photographer... I tried to implement that to the mid range group, 95% of them will still want to be able to choose their pictures and be prepared for lots of amendments if you don't specify the # of changes you'll make. Also, they expects you to shoot EVERYTHING, including those things that are outside of the context of the wedding assignment-their house interior, their pet dogs/cats.
And oh, winsonapm is going to snigger at this, I actually had a client who brought a ruler to measure the sample coffee table album to make sure it's 10x10". 3 days later, I got a phone call from the same chap who told me another photographer offered a book that measured 10x12" for the same package price, asked if I can offer a bigger book.
Moving to the $2000 to $2500 was like the tipping point and I wished I went to that band earlier but I had to spend considerable amount of time to revamp the images. From then on, I never had any couples who disagree to my no-group photos policy because they rather you focus on the documentary aspect of it and leave the group shots to their friend or hire my assistant photographer; suddenly, I feel that I've full artistic control over the images rather than chasing the must-haves or cliched shots from each wedding. Meeting clients has become more fun because they wasn't any negoitation with pricing (there's no such thing as discount/speical offer from me) and just like me, they are looking for the like-minded person to shoot their wedding day. I stopped hearing things like "ehhhh, how come you shoot the couple from the back one?" or the classic "so many black and white shots, is this package cheaper since there's no color ah?" Buttomline is, don't expect the lower price point clients to appreciate those artistic/cutting edge work, coz they never will.
I don't really care or bother to know how much the rest of the guys are charging, really. The big question would be, what kind of clients do you want to work with? Apart from the kind of photos you put on your website, the next important thing to do is price yourself RIGHT.
